


You Can Coax The Cold Right Out Of Me

by sterlingstars



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Schmoop, They Are Gay And In Love, keith just talks about how much he loves lance, latino lance, this is just really soft and gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7490463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sterlingstars/pseuds/sterlingstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's like a fire, this thing between them.</p><p>Lance drags something out of Keith that no one else ever has; it's a wild thing, bright and fiery and entirely foreign, settling into his chest and burying its claws in him with ease. The man behind the blue lion is different, and wild, and alive in ways that Keith isn't, doesn't think he could be. </p><p>But Lance makes him think he could be- alive, bright, unhindered, the way he is. </p><p> </p><p>In which Keith waxes poetic about the one he loves. Nothing but fluff from here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can Coax The Cold Right Out Of Me

**Author's Note:**

> Perhaps this isn't my best quality, and perhaps this could have been longer, but it's late and I'm tired and I am just bursting with these feelings and I had to get them out of my system. There's too much angst in this tag and I just really, really wanted some tender, achingly sweet fluff. So I delivered.

It's like a fire, this thing between them.

Lance drags something out of Keith that no one else ever has; it's a wild thing, bright and fiery and entirely foreign, settling into his chest and burying its claws in him with ease. The man behind the blue lion is different, and wild, and alive in ways that Keith isn't, doesn't think he could be. 

But Lance makes him think he could be- alive, bright, unhindered, the way he is. 

Their attraction builds in a spectacular crescendo, gaining traction and heat like a raging fire, until it explodes in a flurry of desperate, gasping kisses, wandering hands, and breathless exclamations of “I've wanted this for so long.” They reach their peak and it's an inferno. The heat inside of Keith only grows now that Lance adds to the fire, his insides burning every time they touch, share a look, have a lingering kiss flavoring their mouths before a battle. Having Lance in his life as a fellow paladin changed things for Keith enough, but now that they're together, it's even more dramatically different, his heart and brain turned on its head for this man with the flashing blue eyes and a mouth that never knows when to quit. (But Keith knows how to make it quit now, and that is perhaps the sweetest victory of them all, he thinks.) 

Lance can actually handle Keith, which isn't something he's particularly used to. Most people get frustrated over his attitude and just leave him to it, but Lance has never backed down from him, even when he was clearly angry or frustrated. He rises to every challenge that Keith throws at him, relentless, almost eager, and never lets him get away with his shit. Likewise, Keith does the same to Lance- they balance each other, and it endlessly amazes Keith that someone has so much... patience for him. The only other person who's ever come close is Shiro, and while he loves Shiro, it's not quite the same, he thinks, as the way Lance balances him out. Lance is just as much of a fire as he is, but somehow, it works. 

Perhaps the most surprising part of all of this, beyond the fact that Lance even likes him this way anyway, is how gentle he is with Keith. He's surprisingly affectionate, seeking every opportunity possible to hold Keith's hand, touch his hair, kiss his cheek, hug him. It's not something Keith is used to, and he's still warming up to it, but it's nice. His heart clenches in his chest every time Lance goes out of his way to hold his hand when they're sitting, or when he randomly decides to kiss him. He feels warm, in a way that he's never experienced before. 

Most people wouldn't know this, but Keith is actually rather shy. At least, when it comes to things like this. He rarely got crushes in school, but whenever he did, he never had the courage to talk to the boy, and so he's never actually had the chance to explore what being in a relationship is like. He knows things from books and tv and such, but it's nowhere near the same as experiencing it yourself, and Keith is the kind of man who likes to be able to experience things to help him understand them. 

And maybe it's just his inexperience talking, but every time Lance kisses him, it feels like a rebirth.

The months melt by, time endless and fluid here in space, the days on the ship immeasurable and melting together. Battles come and go, fights, laughter, jokes, injuries, but his thing with Lance sticks. There's a sense of permanence to it, which startles Keith. Aside from Voltron, nothing in his life has ever been permanent. He's so used to adapting, changing, bouncing around and remolding himself to new things, that at first it's hard to settle into Lance the way that he wants to. But he's warm and inviting like a good, warm sweater that's worn in all the right places, that hugs your body just right and keeps you at the right temperature. He's a comfort that Keith never expected to have, and they fit together in a way that constantly startles him. 

Lance wakes up in the morning just after Keith, rolls over and drapes an arm lazily around him, tucking their bodies together and presses a long, warm kiss to his temple. Burrows his face into his hair and hums happily as he smells Keith's shampoo, whispers in a slow, husky voice, “Good morning, babe,” and doesn't even notice that Keith's heart hits his throat and burns there, threatening to fall out of his mouth and onto the mattress for Lance to scoop it up in his warm, sleep-clumsy hands. 

They finish a small battle unscathed, victory singing in their adrenaline-spiked limbs, and Lance bounds across the Lion hangar and scoops Keith into his arms, hollering about teamwork and explosions and excellent shots, pressing their mouths together for a fast and fumbling kiss made awkward by the helmets they have yet to take off. Keith is breathless and flushed from adrenaline and the press of Lance's mouth, and Lance doesn't notice how his knees go a little weak at the brightness in his eyes, how Keith's heart surges as Lance's hands rest idly on his hips while he continues rapidly talking about how wonderfully they did. 

They're at dinner and Lance reaches over, thumb on Keith's cheek. “You got something on your cheek, babe,” he says, swiping his thumb across the bit of food goo easy as you please, as Keith's face heats up and his heart hammers away in his chest. When they go to bed soon after Keith presses Lance against his bedroom door, mouths open as they meet, his hands skimming under his shirt and across his stomach, and Lance doesn't know it, but it's a gesture of thanks, an enthusiastic way to say “You always take care of me and you never even have to think about it and God, how did I end up so lucky?”

Keith takes a rather ridiculous spill on the training deck and Lance laughs loudly, his head thrown back and throat exposed under the bright lights, and Keith sits on the floor, stunned, paralyzed with the sudden realization that he would literally do anything for this man. It burns inside of him like liquid fire, and in one fluid motion, he's on his feet and has his hands on Lance. He looks startled for a moment before Keith brings their mouths together in what could be considered an explosive kiss. 

They barely made it to bed, and now they're tangled, blankets and sheets and legs twisted all together, and Keith feels like he just died and came back to life again. Lance's skin is hot against his, his hands large and warm on Keith's back as they run over his shoulders and spine, fingers occasionally making lazy, nonsensical patterns on his slowly cooling skin.

Keith's face is in the crook of Lance's neck, and he takes a moment to breathe. He smells warm and masculine and familiar. He smells like home. Keith burrows his face in and kisses the soft, warm skin there. Lance practically purrs, arms tightening around him a little as he breathes out a soft sigh of content. Keith pulls away enough to look at Lance's face, and he feels a smile spread on his own at the look he sees- soft, pliant, cheeks still flushed, his eyes bright but half-lidded. 

“What are you thinking?” Lance asks, and his voice is soft.

Keith loops his arms around Lance's neck and lets his fingers trail through the soft, short hair at the back of his neck, at his hairline. He sighs a little, and blinks.

“I'm thinking.... there's a lot of things I wanna say,” he says, and he's surprised by how soft his voice is, quiet and small in the relative silence of his room in the sleeping ship. 

“So go on and say them,” Lance says. There's no mocking in his voice- it's gentle as ever, tinged with sleepiness.

Keith combs his fingers through Lance's hair absently.

“You...” He pauses, sighs, bites his lip. Out with it, Keith, you can say this. “You know you're kind of amazing, right?”

Lance flushes. “Well, of course I do,” he says, but his voice wavers the slightest bit. “I'm the best, baby. Glad you're on board.”

Keith chuckles. “I mean it,” he says. “You are... I never knew what I was looking for,” he breathes. “I was so... aimless, for so long, you know? Everything just seemed pointless after Shiro disappeared, and I thought- I thought it couldn't get any worse, right? So I let myself throw everything else away. I let myself be kicked out of the Garrison. And I just... I just sort of, existed, for a while, with nothing else to it.” He sighs softly. “And just when I thought that this was just how I was gonna be, you came along. You all came along, and you... you saved me. All of you. Especially you, actually.”

Lance makes a soft noise, and Keith lets his eyes drift down, continuing to play with Lance's hair as he talks.

“You just... you wouldn't leave me alone.” He chuckles a little wetly. “And, ya know, at first I thought it was annoying, and I kind of couldn't stand you? But you just. You didn't quit. And... other than Shiro, you're one of the only people who's never given up on me. And you could have, so many times, Lance- every other day I thought, 'This is when he gets sick of me, this is where he stops trying', but you just- you kept proving me wrong. And you're here, and you just- you look at me, and I just feel like everything is okay? And you touch me all the time, and you kiss me, and you tell me all these nice things, and you just... you keep filling me up, and I thought I was never gonna get that. I was empty for so long and you came in and filled all the spaces I didn't even know were empty.”

He looks up, then, and Lance's eyes are wide and wet. His lip is trembling, and he looks on the edge of something, like if Keith breathes on him he'll shatter.

“What I'm trying to say,” Keith says, moving his hands to cup Lance's face, gently resting on his cheeks, “is that you showed me parts of myself I didn't even know existed, and you gave me something I didn't know I even wanted. And what I really, really wanna say...”

Lance's breath hitches. Keith's chest is aching. 

“I love you,” he says ,and the words roll of his tongue with ease, but they seem to fill the room, wrapping them up in something heavy and freeing all at once. “I love you, and I want you, and us, and this thing we've made, and I want it for as long as you'll let me have it, because you are everything I never knew I wanted.”

Lance breaks, then, tears leaking from his eyes, and he surges forward, crushing Keith to his chest. He plants kisses all over his face, his neck, rocking, clutching him tight, and Keith feels like he can breathe for the first time in ages. Keith shudders and breathes in his scent, wipes the tears from Lance's face, smiling, breathless. 

“Don't cry,” he whispers.

“I...” Lance pauses. “Keith. _Keith_.”

Their mouths come together and Keith feels like he's on fire. Everything is Lance, and he feels whole and alive and on fire, his chest thrumming and burning and brimming with what he's named as love, as Lance clings to him and continues to plant kisses across his throat and shoulders, murmuring in a soft mix of Spanish and English, breathless like a drowning man. It's like this for a while, and their bodies move again and Keith lets himself go- lets everything go, and this time, when they're done, they collapse into each other as close as they can make themselves be, and everything feels perfectly right. It's as it should be. 

Lance's fingers are tangled in Keith's hair, his mouth pressed to his forehead. They're both barely awake, and Keith feels warm in a newer way.

He falls asleep and can't remember the last time it felt so good.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like what you see and would like to see a live version of me Screaming About Gays In Space, check me out on [twitter.](http://www.twitter.com/transmurdock)


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